Brief Mindset Intervention Changes Attitudes but Does Not Improve Working Memory Capacity or Standardized Test Performance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22046089 |
|---|---|
| Authors | LaTasha R Holden (0000-0003-1163-1433, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, corresponding author), Bear Goldstein (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 227 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Education Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/educsci14030227 |
| OpenAlex | W4392030930 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 49 |
There has been extensive research conducted on mindset and grit, involving both experimental and observational methods. However, the findings in the literature remain mixed. This should give educators and researchers pause from an intervention perspective—if we still do not have a good understanding of how mindset works, then more research is needed. We implemented a mindset intervention with undergraduate women to improve cognitive performance measures relevant to academic performance—working memory capacity and standardized test performance in math. To better understand how mindset interventions work, we also examined self-report measures (e.g., pertaining to academic attitudes and belonging) as well as post-intervention behavior. We expected the growth mindset intervention to significantly improve cognitive performance and to cause more positive academic attitudes and attitudinal change. The mindset intervention did change students’ beliefs about ability and also caused students to report higher grit overall (no condition difference), and to feel less belonging in terms of connection to their university—which was not in line with our hypotheses. We also found that the growth mindset intervention had no significant effects on improving WMC or standardized test performance. We discuss the implications of these findings and make suggestions for future work in this area
Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Mindset · Working memory · Applied Psychology · Cognitive Abilities and Testing · Computer Science · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness · Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
Working-memory capacity and the control of attention
Working Memory
To What Extent and Under Which Circumstances Are Growth Mind-Sets Important to Academic Achievement? Two Meta-Analyses
Mindsets and human nature
A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement
Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement
Is working memory capacity task dependent?
Mind-Set Interventions Are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement
The development of grit and growth mindset during adolescence
Mindsets That Promote Resilience
Working memory span tasks
Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering
Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation
Working Memory Capacity as Executive Attention
Training and plasticity of working memory
Motivational Beliefs, Values, and Goals
Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit–S)
Failure to Replicate
Improving adolescents' standardized test performance
Mind-sets matter
Do Growth Mindsets in Math Benefit Females? Identifying Pathways between Gender, Mindset, and Motivation
Determinants of academic achievement
Examining mindset and grit in concurrent and future reading comprehension
Implicit theories and IQ test performance
Can fixed views of ability boost performance in the context of favorable stereotypes
Grit
Why do women opt out? Sense of belonging and women's representation in mathematics
Reducing the Effects of Stereotype Threat on African American College Students by Shaping Theories of Intelligence
Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition
Social-Psychological Interventions in Education
Converging evidence that stereotype threat reduces working memory capacity
The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning
Evolving conceptions of memory storage, selective attention, and their mutual constraints within the human information-processing system
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |